Mugi Yamamoto

PROJECT

Stack

CLIENT

ECAL / Ecole Cantonale d'art de Lausanne

Stack

My diploma project is a compact inkjet printer, which is placed on top of a paper pile. When printing, “Stack” slowly moves downwards and swallows the pile until no paper is left. The paper disappears under the printer and exits on top, where it creates a new pile.

Thanks to this new way of printing it is possible to remove the paper tray, the bulkiest element in common printers. This concept allows a very light appearance and avoids frequent reloading.

JURY COMMENTS

This concept immediately stood out for it’s poetic rethinking of a accepted and stale printer paradigm. We loved the deconstruction and reductive thinking of an otherwise clunky, dated device and it’s ability to solve for some real world pain points – imagine always knowing if the printer has paper in it!

In addition, while elegant as a concept, not to mention the delight factor, the designer has thought through the details of both function and construction and demonstrates the ability to keep the original design intent while still “”making it work”".

Stack

1. The Nutshell: In plain language, tell us what your project is, what it does, and what it’s comprised of.

My diploma project is a compact inkjet printer, which is placed on top of a paper pile. When printing, “Stack” slowly moves downwards and swallows the pile until no paper is left. The paper disappears under the printer and exits on top, where it creates a new pile.

Thanks to this new way of printing it is possible to remove the paper tray, the bulkiest element in common printers. This concept allows a very light appearance and avoids frequent reloading.

2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?

As a student I lived in a small room and had no space for a common big printer. Interested by this very daily but in the world of industrial design rarely noticed object, I decided to work on a printer for my diploma project.

3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to the brief?

When I started my market research I was baffled about the printer industry. All the printers are the same kind of bulky boxes of plastic. When I started analyzing the interior, it was even worse. When I opened up printers of different generations but of the same manufacturer, I found there is a big lack of innovation in the printer industry and that's why I was even more motivated to do a project in this field.

The most time-consuming part in this project was the proof of functionality. I opened up and modified many printers until I finally got my functional model to work. Then I searched for the smallest available printer parts and based on them I designed the shape of “Stack”.
My stakeholders would be people who live in small apartments and don't have room for a big printer and those who are bored of ordinary bulky printers.

5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)

The value in this project is to bring some fresh air into a very boring industry. It shows the paradigm-shifting from an ugly and often hidden object to an object that one can actually be proud of.

In the future a printer doesn't just serve the user, but it can be a delighting object in the grey office world.